


So I start a revolution from my bed

by majesticghost



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Seto Kaiba is a well-adjusted human being in this, Sleep Deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 04:16:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17635853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/majesticghost/pseuds/majesticghost
Summary: All it takes, apparently, is Kaiba walking into their dorm unannounced in his black spy movie business suit (to drop off his last year’s intro to law textbook for Atem, becauseof coursethe asshole is cruising through his masters already and doesn’t need it anymore) - and Joeyhowls.





	So I start a revolution from my bed

 

So I start a revolution from my bed

'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head.

 

* * *

 

Joey’s long suspected his brain is more susceptible to turning into complete mush than other people’s, but it becomes more and more evident each time midterms roll around.

This time, he was as prepared as could be. He had a meticulous study schedule (thanks Tea) with push notifications on his phone, he’d stocked up on granola bars and instant coffee, and was determined to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night to keep himself from going insane, and yet.

And yet.

They’re less than a week into exams and with his current workload and string of unfinished assignments, Joey can already tell he’s tiptoeing a very delicate line between sanity and madness. Despite all his preparations and cautionary measures, he’s so fatigued and highly strung that he knows the slightest push in the wrong direction could ruin his carefully maintained balance and barrel him straight to a mental clinic. He absolutely cannot sleep less than he already does, but he also cannot afford to sleep more, because he needs to stick to his timetable. It’s not nearly as bad for Yugi, Joey notes to himself, but he knows that’s because Yugi has a knack for most things that Joey needs to put hours of work into (and that’s okay).

He knows, realistically, that it’s only a matter of time until something _does_ upset him to the point where his tiny air castle of barely-maintained control over this situation will inevitably blow up, because that’s just life. So he keeps to his precise timetable as best as he can, going to the library when his phone tells him to, or going to sleep when his schedule says so (okay, so it’s usually always an hour later than planned, but 5 hours a night is good enough), and waits for something to happen.

And then it happens.

All it takes, apparently, is Kaiba walking into their dorm unannounced in his black spy movie business suit (to drop off his last year’s intro to law textbook for Atem, because _of course_ the asshole is cruising through his _masters_ already and doesn’t need it anymore) - and Joey _howls._

It’s a testament to the true stress of midterms that nobody comes banging on their door to tell him to keep it down – because they all relate to his scream on a deeply personal level. In fact, as if saying they sympathise with him, somebody in the next flat starts crying and Joey doesn’t have to feel so bad about causing noise disturbance.

The last of his brain cells are gone, exploded, turned to mashed potato, leaking out of his ears as he bangs his head on the table. Why does his shit brain decide that _now_ out of all times would be a good idea to start having a gigantic crush on the asshole? Why couldn’t it have been on a nice spring day instead, when there’s no responsibilities and he’s not feeling like a month-old dish sponge being wrung dry above the sink? Maybe then this wouldn’t seem so awful.

He thinks it’s from exhaustion probably, but right now the possibility of finding Kaiba crazy attractive is somehow endlessly tragic. Kaiba’s a literal genius, he’s filthy rich, he begrudgingly hangs out with their ‘dweeb party’, through which Joey’s found out Kaiba’s actually hilarious with his running dry commentary of everything and everybody, he’s even kind of a decent friend maybe, and _now_ apparently, he’s hot as fuck too. There’s not a chance in hell. _Joey_ does not have a chance in hell. And he wouldn’t care so much because on any other given day, he could shake it off, ignore it until it goes away, go on a date and stop thinking about perfect unattainable people, but _right now…_

Right now, he has trained his brain to desperately cling onto any and all information it comes across, so now that the image of Kaiba and his black suit is there, it’s there for good.

Joey lets out another whimper and rests his cheek on his programming notes, blinking at this absurd vision of a sleek superhero (that his brain is apparently in love with now), looking way too tall in their tiny apartment.

Kaiba doesn’t even blink.

“Need a rabies shot, Wheeler?” he asks dryly, already on his way to the front door, and when it clicks shut behind him, it’s like all the air leaves the room.

Joey keeps on wailing because he doesn’t know what else to do. The balance is broken. The cracks in his mental equity are widening by the second, threatening to tear apart his simplest cognitive processes, and they all wear a handsome blue-eyed face.

 

* * * 

Joey struggles through his next two exams with sheer willpower, ignoring the revelation, but he knows he needs to address his dumbass brain’s delusions soon. He cannot sleep anymore without having weird dreams about Kaiba (of varying sexual degrees), and he needs to cleanse himself of this unnecessary attraction somehow, because his head cannot currently accommodate more than exam materials and basic human functions.

He tries talking to Yugi about it, but Yugi just seems to think he’s finally lost it.

“Was he always hot?” he asks on Wednesday night, lying on the sofa, voice muffled by a pillow.

“Who?” asks Yugi absentmindedly, circling something in his notes.

“Kaiba. Like has he been hot this entire time?”

After a moment of silence, Yugi puts his pencil down and frowns at Joey. “How much did you sleep last night?”

“Not enough,” Joey groans.

“Clearly. Since when do you think _Kaiba_ is hot?”

“Since like…two days ago? One day ago? I don’t know, when did we last see him?”

Yugi shrugs. Oh right, he wasn’t in the apartment then.

“He dropped off something for Atem and I just. Well, I ….”

“Lost it?” offers Yugi helpfully, and Joey lets out an even louder groan.

“Just answer the question, will you? Has he always been hot?”

“Well,” Yugi starts, clearly still trying to make sense of the fact that Joey has an abhorrent crush on their slightly sociopathic sometimes-friend, “I suppose so. He’s quite popular, isn’t he? I mean, I know he doesn’t date anyone ever, but people talk about him a lot. Also, apparently Atem has this one economics teacher that still talks about Kaiba and he was in that class like 4 years ago – drives Atem nuts by the way – so I guess, objectively, he’s attractive to a lot of people…”

Yugi’s voice trails off as he starts reading a paragraph and Joey sighs.

That’s exactly what he needs though – a reality check. That people like Kaiba have the option of dating the entire campus at once, if they wanted to, and that’s probably what’s going to happen. Maybe if he can get that through his thick skull, his brain will abandon this nonsense and let him focus on studying.

 

* * *

It’s not going great. It’s not going great at all, because when Joey steps into their shared flat after one of his more brain-crushing exams, Kaiba’s there. Lounging on the sofa. Looking out of place, but relatively comfy nevertheless, wearing his signature stoic expression which could signal anything from mild rage to moderate happiness.

“What?” says Joey weakly, eyeing the congregation of his closest friends all pressed together in the tiny kitchen-living room area. “Is this an intervention? I swear I get at least 5 hours of sleep, no matter what Yugi says.”

“It’s not an intervention,” says Tristan lazily, “we just decided to get takeout and then it started to rain and then we ended up here.”

“And him?” Joey points to the anomaly on their couch, who is singlehandedly taking up space that could accommodate at least 3 people, on a good day. He feels a little hysterical, especially because he’s only now beginning to realise his clothes are soaked through and yet he didn’t notice the rain until Tristan mentioned it.

“I was in the neighbourhood,” Kaiba says, and Joey snorts.

“Sure you were, it’s very easy to confuse this neck of the woods with the Hamptons.”

“Joey, aren’t you freezing?” Tea asks, and Joey looks down at his T-shirt.

“Now that you mention it…”

He stomps into his room to find dry clothes.

He thinks about it one way and the other way, running a towel through his hair, and he finally decides the only rational plan of action is that he needs to accept this. Kaiba is just here now. Not just in his head, but in their apartment. He has to make do with that, because as much as it drives him more towards the edge of insanity, he knows he doesn’t actually want Kaiba to _leave._ Which is a worrying thought in itself, but – baby steps.

He walks back into the room and with all the chairs around the table occupied, sinks into his beanbag, which nobody has dared to touch, despite the clear absence of seats (Duke is literally sitting on Tristan), probably because of the multitude of stains on it. Joey doesn’t care, because he knows the origin of each and every one of them, and it’s all food.

He takes a fried rice carton from Tea, who is closest to him, and almost manages to relax, for a whole 30 seconds. Then he notices that Kaiba’s wearing a black T-shirt under his jacket and without being able to stop himself, just says “NO!” rather loudly.

All heads turn and this time, Kaiba does raise an eyebrow.

“I’m beginning to think we _should_ have staged an intervention,” says Tristan, slightly baffled. “What’s the matter with you? You’ve been weird as hell this past week.”

“Did you actually revise your brain into dementia because damn, Wheeler,” says Duke and he sounds quite impressed.

Joey looks helplessly at Yugi, who purses his lips in thought, and pointedly ignores Kaiba, because he can feel the stare piercing into him. Atem wears an expression similar to Yugi's and Joey swears to god, if that little shit told the slightly larger shit…

Who is he kidding, he totally did.

Joey wishes he could say something to make them all stop staring, but then Yugi speaks, god bless him.

“He’s really overworked. He always stays up after I go to bed. I think it’s just starting to show, is all.”

“Right. That.” Joey wags his finger at all of them, still ignoring Kaiba. “I’m an over-worker, you guys. I may have lost my mind a little bit, but I’ll get it back after exams are over, don’t worry.”

“I’m mostly worried cause you have never over-worked on anything in your life,” mutters Tristan and gets a chastising look from Tea.

She still looks worried, but the conversation picks up again and Joey lets out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. He then makes the mistake of looking at Seto and he’s staring right back, one eyebrow still slightly quirked.

“Don’t,” says Joey in what he hopes is a vaguely threatening tone, but it just sounds tired. “I do not need a single reminder about my apparent lack of brains. By now I’ve noticed it myself.”

There’s something of an amused huff from the man, but nothing else. They continue to quietly stare at each other, until Mai challenges Joey to a game off, and he has to comply simply out of principle, being a game designer major and all.

Then they’re playing and it is how it always is, with Atem and Yugi yelling at him about the best possible strategies and Kaiba making a signature remark every now and then, and Joey realises that despite his borderline mad crush, everything’s still cool between them, and he manages to finally relax for the first time since what feels like forever.

 

* * *

Later, when they’ve cleaned up most of their food and everybody but Yugi, Atem and Kaiba have left, it gets a little awkward. The dream team are in their own world as per usual, so Joey has no choice but to interact with Kaiba. He doesn’t really know where to begin, but the conversation is started for him.

“How much are you actually sleeping?” asks Kaiba quietly, and Joey shrugs.

“I honestly cannot tell. Less than I should. Definitely less than 5 hours a night. Don’t tell Yugi.”

Kaiba hums noncommittally. Again, that could mean anything from plotting to kill someone to…benevolent amusement? Is he even capable of having any positive emotions? Does it matter? Joey rubs his eyes and decides it doesn’t.

He’s starting to feel a little sleepy. Or a lot sleepy. He still has more revision to do for tomorrow, but he feels quite prepared. And he feels better about things. He still has that unscratchable itch when it comes to Kaiba in black clothing, apparently, but he can live with it, so long as the beanstalk himself doesn’t find out.

“How many exams do you have left?”

“Three. Is it three? It might be three. Three sounds about right.”

Joey sounds stupid even to himself now, and he really does _not_ want to look at Kaiba’s _“I am most amused by your stupidity”_   face, pretty as it is, but he does anyway. He’s met with a frown instead of a smirk and swallows the urge to ask Kaiba if he’s feeling alright. If there’s one thing he doesn’t need, it’s pity.

“When’s your next one?”

“Tomorrow evening,” Joey sighs. “Then one on Friday, and one last one next Wednesday. There’s also a project draft submission deadline in there somewhere, but I honestly forget what it’s for and who I’m supposed to be doing it with.”

“It’s me,” aids Yugi, parading through the room with a dangerous tower of empty tea mugs. “You’re doing the project with me. We’re almost done, we just have to finish the character page and annotate some things.”

“So that’s where those went,” says Joey thoughtfully, looking at the dishes being piled up in the sink, ignoring the fact that he forgot he’s doing his final project with Yugi. Maybe there is something to getting a proper amount of rest each night – like the secret to being a well-adjusted, not crazy human being.

Kaiba rises very suddenly, towering over them both. “Right. I have work to finish and it seems like you two do too, so, I’ll see you tomorrow, Wheeler. Get some sleep.”

Joey’s so zoned out watching Yugi do the dishes, that he forgets to both say goodnight and also to ask why on earth would he see Kaiba tomorrow, because they have no pre-arranged engagement for that (and he thinks Kaiba operates on nothing but pre-arranged engagements). Later in bed he briefly ponders over that and promptly forgets about it.

 

* * * 

He remembers it again when he exits the class on Friday after his midterm, and sees Kaiba waiting for him, a takeaway coffee cup in hand. He’s also wearing a black coat, which is – not okay. First of all, since when does he own anything non-flashy and also why does it look better on him than on any other human bei –

“Wheeler!”

Joey realises he’s been walking towards Kaiba at alarming speed and is literally inches away from his face, as well as the dangerously steaming cup.

“Right. Sorry. Weird head. I mean brain.”

Kaiba raises an eyebrow. “Did you sleep?”

“A little,” admits Joey, then looks down at the coffee. “This for me?”

“Yes,” says Kaiba and gingerly gives him the cup, as if afraid Joey’ll go berserk in a minute and dump the hot liquid all over his fancy coat. Which looks _so good_ on him, _Lord have mercy…_

“I think you need a change of scenery,” he then says, as if Joey’s the one with the private yet and impromptu holiday options at his fingertips, and Joey snorts.

“Don’t tell me you’re about to whisk me to Paris or some shit.”

Kaiba sighs. “I was thinking more along the lines of lunch, but if you’re actually into lamprey à la Bordelaise, I guess we could go to Paris.”

Joey tries to process that sentence to the best of his ability but all he can come up with is: “What are lamp ray border lays?”

Then it’s Kaiba who snorts.

 

* * *

“So – “Joey starts to say, and then stops again because he’s got his mouth full of weird, delicious food. It’s like a combination of all his favourite junk food items, except it’s all served in fancy glasses with oddly flavoured dip sauces and the dishes have nicer names, such as ‘pan-seared shallot entrees’, even though they’re just onion rings.  “So…”

“Finish a mouthful before you start a thought, that might help,” says Kaiba impassively, and for once, Joey decides to take his advice. He’s so sleep-deprived he’s starting to feel like an entirely different person – one who has no inhibitions about sitting in fancy restaurants in his T-shirt and jeans, and one who also does not seem to mind getting along with Kaiba. He chews down his last onion entrée and licks his fingers.

“So. Why are we here?”

“Seeing how you're on some studying rampage - nutrition is key to a healthy brain,” says Kaiba, never once looking away from his work. “Somehow I don’t think yourself and Yugi are having full course balanced meals up in that apartment.”

“It’s mostly ramen,” Joey admits easily, and bites into a particularly crispy shrimp. “So how do you know this place?”

“My therapist brought it up once, I thought you’d like it.”

Joey feels his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline and he doesn’t even plan on stopping them.

“Your _therapist?_ You go to _therapy?_ ” He doesn’t mean for it to sound so incredulous, but it does. “ _Why_?”

Kaiba doesn’t even bother to look up. “I’m an orphan with an abusive adoptive father who spent literally every single day of his life trying to ruin mine. Don’t you think you would be in therapy too?”

Joey thinks about it for all of two seconds and shrugs. “Yeah, probably. In fact, I probably should be. It’s not like my old man would’ve ever won a father of the year award. Is that why you’re like…all…friendly and stuff, now? From going to therapy?”

At that, Kaiba does look up. “It does have the immense benefit of learning all the techniques of fitting in with the regular society and hiding my serial killer tendencies,” he deadpans, and it takes Joey a moment to realise that Kaiba’s actually making a joke.

He cracks a smile before he can help himself.

“So that’s the secret to becoming a functional human being, is it? Five hundred dollars an hour?”

“Eight hundred. And more than 3 hours of sleep a night.”

Joey really laughs now, and he doesn’t even know why. Kaiba’s kind of amazing like this, being all nice and humouring him and feeding him bar foods disguised as gourmet dishes. He could get used to it.

It’s only later that he thinks about how weird that lunch invitation actually was and wonders why he didn’t question it more. Then he also remembers Kaiba saying the actual goddamn phrase _“I thought you’d like it_ ,” which trashes the rest of his revision and sleeping plans for the evening, as he lies fully awake on his bed and tries to decipher that until the early morning hours.

 

* * *

Kaiba’s there after he leaves the library on Saturday evening, nonchalant as ever, and of course, dressed in black. Joey’s starting to suspect some higher forces are at play here because he’s told _no one_ about this apparent color fixation and yet.

“More food?” he asks hopefully, and Kaiba shrugs.

“If you want,” he says, and swiftly takes Joey’s messenger bag that contains a ridiculously heavy volume on user testing.

“I always want more food,” Joey says, and decides to not pay attention to the fact that Kaiba’s literally carrying his books like some anime boyfriend character, because then he would _really_ lose it.

“I actually had a movie in mind, but feel free to eat yourself into a popcorn coma,” says Kaiba, and opens the car door for him.

Joey _does_ eat himself into a popcorn coma, whilst watching some dumbass explosion extravaganza, and he loves every second of it. The theatre’s practically empty, so they do their own commentary over it, and Joey has actual tears in his eyes. From laughing, and also from not sleeping, probably. But mostly from laughing.

 

* * *

After their project presentation on Monday, things take a really, _really_ weird turn. Kaiba straight up kidnaps him from school and drives him to the apartment he apparently rents while he’s attending uni.

“What are you _doing_?” asks Joey, as he gets maneuvered into the loft, and then, “Wow, nobody needs _that_ much TV screen unless you’re running restricted movie screenings from here.”

“I am,” says Kaiba – Seto – dry as ever, and Joey smirks.

“Is it novelty porn?”

Kaiba doesn’t bother to dignify that with a response. Instead, he steps further into what looks to be a lavish kitchen area and throws his jacket on a white leather-covered chair.

“So what are we doing?” asks Joey, and climbs onto the impressive marble counter, which only gets a mildly irritated look from the taller man, before he returns to rifling through what looks like a wine fridge.

“Oh are we drinking? Cool.”

“ _I’m_ drinking,” says Kaiba, pouring himself a glass. “ _You_ have one more exam to study for, which you can do here. Where it’s peaceful and quiet.”

“And here I was hoping you’d try to get me drunk in your fancy apartment,” sighs Joey. “Approximately how many of your dates start like this?”

“What is a ‘date’?” asks Kaiba with his most inexpressive face yet, and Joey chokes on his laughter.

In the end, he really doesn’t get to drink any of Kaiba’s fancy liquor, which is a disappointment, but he does get to sit behind a very large desk, overlooking the night city, and work on his final exam in peace. And it’s quite nice. At least it feels like he’s more productive here than in the overly crammed study spaces on campus. The apartment is quiet, but not in a scary way. It’s quiet, because it’s so high up the traffic noise doesn't reach it, and it’s quiet because the neighbours are probably more civilised in this part of town. The expensive carpets seem to absorb all excess sound, even that of his own breathing. When it’s this quiet, Joey feels like his mind is on high alert. Which is good for studying, but not for contemplating life – but that’s what he really, really wants to do instead.

So after approximately half an hour of fighting with his drifting focus, when he knows it’s been lost for good, Joey puts down his pen and slides out of his comfy seat. He chooses to lie down right there on the thick carpet and stare at the ornate light in the ceiling. Kaiba has weird taste. Did Kaiba even choose any of the décor in here? He probably had someone do it for him.

God, he’s in Kaiba’s apartment. Kaiba. _Se-to Kai-ba._ What an enigma, Joey thinks. Why’s he feeding Joey and taking him to nice places? Why isn’t Joey finding this more weird? He tries to think back to when this all started. Has it really only been a week? Week and a half? But then – no. No, Kaiba’s been strange…since when? Last month? Start of the year? Has he _ever_ been normal? Joey groans softly and presses his hands to his eyes.

Realistically – Kaiba’s a douche. But like, he lets them all hang out in his place. Or places. Sometimes. Okay, _rarely._ But then Joey’s friends magically get their more expensive textbooks somehow paid for and delivered to their doors, or see the occasional mysterious decrease in their tuition fees, and Joey _knows_ Kaiba has a heart. He just doesn’t know what to do with it maybe. So he does what he can with money. Also he’s still like, indescribably hot. Joey’s not over that, not by a long shot. In fact, it’s been getting worse. He could swear Kaiba never owned this much tight black clothing before, but then he only has a vague idea of what color his own shirt is, so maybe Kaiba’s always worn black and looked hot while doing so, and all it took was a little sleep deprivation for Joey to notice.

Or maybe his brain is just pudding. He closes his eyes for a minute and when he opens them, he’s staring into clear blue.

“GAH! Warn a guy, would you!?”

“Sorry,” says Kaiba in a voice that is decidedly not sorry at all. “Thought you passed out or something.”

“I was thinking,” says Joey, slightly aghast at the sudden proximity of Kaiba’s ridiculous face, which was now moving away from him.

“You were thinking? This is a monumental occasion” he says, and sits down in the chair that Joey abandoned for the carpet earlier, “crack the champagne.”

“I thought you already did,” retorts Joey, trying to do his best Kaiba impression, but it doesn’t sound nearly as good.

“So how’s this going?” asks Kaiba instead, leafing through Joey’s work. “I see you’ve done an entire 10 sentences worth of notes.”

Joey thinks about picking an argument but then sighs. He’s so tired, still. “I tried. Nobody can say I didn’t try. But I’m like…exhausted.” He closes his eyes again and lets his head lull to the side.

He’s not sure how many seconds or minutes pass, but when he opens his eyes again, Kaiba’s looking down at him. _Jesus_ this angle should not be allowed, thinks Joey momentarily, because Kaiba’s high and mighty and too tall for his own good as it is, but this is just…this is insane. He thinks about articulating that but then decides the man does not need his ego stroked any more than it already is, by every single person on the planet probably.

“You should sleep,” says Kaiba then, breaking the weird fantasy that Joey was silently starting to compose in his head.

“Yeah no shit, I was trying to,” he says, and closes his eyes again. Then he’s abruptly hauled to his feet and yelps.

“I meant properly. Like in a bed?”

Kaiba drags, or what he would probably call _forcibly guides_ Joey into the hallway by the arm.

“Oh, _fun._ Do other people get to sleep over at your place? How many guest rooms do you have here? Do you ever have like parties where people get so wasted they throw up in all your bedrooms and then you have to – who am I kidding, you don’t throw parties, that’s – your bed?”

Joey stops abruptly and looks at Kaiba, then back at the room that is undoubtedly the master bedroom of the apartment.

Kaiba just pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a pained sigh.

“Wheeler – just go to sleep.”

“Okay, but…” Joey slowly moves into the centre of the room and looks around. It’s tasteful, just like the rest of the place, in calm tones and softly lit. “Like – why? I can sleep on the sofa too. I could sleep literally anywhere, really, at this point. Also – “

He sits down on the bed and pats the soft sheets, “I really do feel like I should have gotten at least one drink before you demand I get into your bed.”

He shoots a grin in Kaiba’s direction and nearly falls off the edge of the bed when for the first time, he’s not met with a long-suffering stoic look but a small, barely-there smirk that does very sinful things to his lower regions.

“Go to sleep,” repeats Kaiba then, with something like a chuckle under his breath, and closes the door behind him.

Joey falls back first onto the bed and wants to scream for a second. Yugi would not believe this if he told him. But Joey wants to warn him anyway, just in case he wakes up, discovers this has all been a weird sleep-deprived fever dream and dies in an incident that involves him being thrown off the fancy too-high balcony by the gracious host himself.

He fishes his phone out of his pocket and thinks about it for a minute, before typing out: ‘went to Kaibas place, hes making me sleep here, if i die overnight bc he comes to his senses pls arrange duran duran for cremation ceremony’. He sends it to Yugi, Tristan, Tea and Duke, and then thinks about what he could possibly do next. This is probably the first and last time he has access to Kaiba’s own bedroom, so he might as well wreak some havoc while he’s in here.

First, he decides that if he’s going to sleep in the Ice King’s own bed, he’s going to get comfortable, so he wriggles out of his jeans and T-shirt and then lays down once more. It’s comfy. It’s _way_ too comfy and he feels himself getting dangerously drowsy.

“I guess I’ll go through his drawers in the morning,” thinks Joey briefly, before getting fully under the covers and letting his eyelids droop.

 

* * *

The sun pokes at his eyes, and Joey wants to bury his head under the pillow and go straight back to sleep.

“Why would you make a bedroom face the _east_ side of the building,” he asks groggily, from no one in particular.

“I wouldn’t. It’s 12pm and this isn’t the morning sun,” says a calm voice from beside him and Joey shrieks.

“Do you want to give me a _heart attack_!?” He tries to throw the pillow at Kaiba’s stupid head, except Kaiba’s quicker and Joey’s just woken up, so he nearly misses and Kaiba catches it with ease anyway.

“You seem to be pretty good at giving them to yourself,” says Kaiba and gently places the pillow behind him, where he’s leaning into a mountain of them already, furiously typing away on his laptop. He’s dressed, but there are no dark circles under his eyes, and Joey squints.

“Did you sleep?”

“Yes.”

“Did you sleep _here,_ I mean.”

A missed beat. “Yes.”

Joey slaps a hand to his forehead with a groan of disbelief. “I slept with you and I didn’t even get a lousy cocktail. I cannot believe this.”

Kaiba rolls his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic, Wheeler. It’s my bed. And you could kick less.”

Joey feels his cheeks heat up slightly, before he remembers he’s still only in his underwear and he just slept in Kaiba’s apartment, in his bedroom, in his _bed._ And apparently had that kickboxing dream again. And then his cheeks heat up a lot.

“You should’ve thought of that before you made me sleep here,” he says defensively, and folds his hands over his chest, feeling a little self-conscious now. He knows his hair is a mess and that he probably looks ridiculous in this lavish bed with the ridiculous fancy sheets. And it doesn’t help that Kaiba looks like a goddamn god in the mor – noon sunshine that's cascading in from all the floor to ceiling windows and making this place look oddly heavenly, with the white sheets and everything.

Ice King in his sunny snow palace, Joey thinks fleetingly, and bites his lip in amusement.

But seriously though. This isn’t fair. This is _not_ fair. He can’t stop looking at this…what is he even trying to be? What is Kaiba, when he’s not a ruthless businessman or a brilliant, albeit antagonistic student, or somebody’s worst possible enemy, or somebody’s friend? Because somehow Joey doesn’t think Kaiba would let anybody else from that small group of people he reluctantly calls friends sleep in his bed.

But Joey has. He let Joey do that. Joey has slept in here, he has slept _on_ this - and there is _something_ , now. There is a pretty colossal _something_ here, that feels like it’s been building for a while. But  _what is it?_

He stares at the gorgeous, well put together man, who isn’t even that well put together (which means he’s not wearing a suit for once, just a dress shirt and jeans), oddly regal despite the early hours of the mor – noon – and he gnaws on his lip, and he doesn’t know what to say or do anymore. Because – _because._ He slept for what feels like a good 9 or 10 hours. His mind is suddenly clear, or as clear as it could possibly be, given the circumstances. He’s figured it out, now that he has given his brain the rest it deserves, and he sighs, because it’s an annoying revelation, just like the previous one.

“Cat got your tongue?” asks Kaiba, and Joey blinks.

“No, I – you’re not going to believe this, but I had another thought.”

Kaiba smirks and on him, it’s a look that should be _illegal_. “Let’s hear it then.”

Joey thinks he might as well. He’s already slept in the man’s bed and gotten some deep-fried food out of him and he guesses that’s as good as it’s ever going to get.

“You know that I’ve been feeling like I’m losing my mind? For the past week or so. But not like …occasionally. It’s all the time. Like I’m walking the edge of a building and the jump is inevitable, you know? And now –“

Joey sighs. “Now I think I’m actually going to lose it for real. This is the jump. Because I’m about to say something that’s going to break my entire brain in half. It might even break yours. You ready for this?”

Kaiba’s silent, but his gaze stays fixed on Joey.

“I’m like…in love with you, I think.”

The rush of impending insanity doesn’t happen.

Joey was expecting for this statement to gently tip him over the edge and into the looney bin for good, but nothing really happens.

He feels the same, everything in the room still looks the same, Kaiba’s face is the same.

Then Kaiba slowly closes his laptop, placing it on the nightstand, and says: “Now why would that break your brain in half? It was hardly the longest sentence you’ve ever strung together.”

The weirdness of these past few days has made Joey a slow reactor, but when he gets it, he groans. “You’re such an asshole.”

“In that case I would advise you to stop being in love with me, otherwise this relationship is going to get very annoying for you very fast,” says Kaiba, rolls himself over to Joey with ease and, staring right into his eyes as if momentarily stopping to ask for permission, kisses him.

Joey knows that whole saying about when waiting for something to happen really badly, you’re going to always end up disappointed, or something like that.

He’s glad to say that is _so not_ the case. Kaiba’s exactly how he imagined – gentle but firm, and very, _very_ good at it, and also _very, very_ demanding, with his long fingers gliding over Joey’s skin and setting fire to his insides. It’s already starting to feel like a competition, but one that Joey would not mind losing. If he were upright, he’d be getting a little weak at the knees, but instead he just gets a boner, which Kaiba can evidently tell, judging by his low chuckle, as he tightens his hold on Joey and gently pulls away to let him catch his breath.

His eyes are alight and Joey feels a flutter in his chest, before realising something.

“Wait…wait, hang on, you said ‘relationship’.” Joey shakes his head and taps Kaiba on the shoulder he was just clinging to moments earlier. “You said ‘relationship’.”

Kaiba rolls his eyes and his expression goes straight back to trademark Kaibaface. “I know what I said, Wheeler.”

“Are you…are we like…dating? Is that what you meant?”

“I thought that was implied.”

“Well you never asked me so…” Joey’s starting to get hysterical but then Kaiba kisses him again, if only to get him to shut up.

“This is me asking. Now are you interested in this or not?” It’s followed by a small roll of his hips against Joey’s and it’s _so not_ okay - who is he kidding, it’s _very_ okay.

“I…yes!” says Joey, his voice still too high-pitched for his own liking. “Oh my god, we’re dating. Are you going to let me sleep in your bed all the time? Are you gonna take your shirt off around me? Are we going to _have sex?_ ”

“I would hope so,” says Kaiba dryly, and Joey flails in his arms, nearly smacking him in the face.

“Then _why_ are we _not doing that already?”_ He struggles to get out of Kaiba’s hold to climb into his lap instead and starts unbuttoning his shirt. “I call dibs on the left side when we’re done.”

“It’s _noon_. If anything, we’re going to get lunch after this.”

Joey can practically feel the scolding look as he pulls on the white, undoubtedly expensive material, but it’s so marvellously absurd that he just laughs. His brain is still intact after midterms and he feels _wonderful_ , especially when Kaiba finally makes it out of his clothes and then looks at Joey in a way that makes his body go tingly all over.

Okay, so that part might actually break Joey’s brain.

He decides he’s okay with it.

 

* * *

\- ‘Joey r u alive?’

\- ‘m8 – did kaiba kill u’

\- ‘Joey answer me, I’m worried.’

-‘o no ur so fucked’

 

Joey snorts and his thumb hesitates above the keyboard, before he types out a single ‘yup’ and presses ‘Send’.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Right. It’s been years since I’ve been involved with the fandom so I have no idea if the debate over sub vs dub names is still hot, but I’ve only ever watched the dub and these are the only names I’m capable of writing apparently.
> 
> (Also this was inspired by another fic but I felt way too subpar about my writing to officially make it an 'inspired by' work. Anyway, it made me feel things to the extent that I sat down and wrote a fic for a pairing I never shipped before in my life. Explain me to me because I cannot.)
> 
> Also why does this fandom not have more college AUs because the characters are literally perfect for it??
> 
> So yeah. Leave a comment, I can handle just about anything.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _(my dumbass fandom tumblr is brightbluedaydreams and I will scream about yugioh w/ you if you want)_


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